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Don’t miss this Christmas tree made of Ryukyu textiles this holiday season

Don’t miss this Christmas tree made of Ryukyu textiles this holiday season

November 14, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

Ryukyu Bingata Preservation and Expansion Consortium (RBPC), a group working to spread and preserve traditional Ryukyu textiles is teaming with Okicom, a software developer, to install a Christmas tree at Naha Airport.

The tree will feature eight of Okinawa’s bingata varieties designated national traditional crafts. The aim is to advertise Okinawan history and culture to locals and tourists by installing the tree at Naha Airport, the island’s...

 

From U.S.-ruled Okinawa to Thursday Island, Senshu Arakawa, the dream-chasing Uchinanchu pearl diver from Motobu who braved harsh conditions in northern Australia, “wants to visit again while I am healthy”

From U.S.-ruled Okinawa to Thursday Island, Senshu Arakawa, the dream-chasing Uchinanchu pearl diver from Motobu who braved harsh conditions in northern Australia, “wants to visit again while I am healthy”

November 19, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
Ryota Nakamura

During U.S. rule of Okinawa in 1958, there were many Uchinanchu who went to Thursday Island in northern Australia with dreams of getting rich pearl diving.

Senshu Arakawa, 86, from Kenken, Motobu was one of them. The reality of a...

Shiraho-Saonetabaru Cave Ruins, where 27-thousand-year-old human remains were found, to be designated a national Historic Site

Shiraho-Saonetabaru Cave Ruins, where 27-thousand-year-old human remains were found, to be designated a national Historic Site

November 15, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo Digital Edition

On November 15, the national government’s Council for Cultural Affairs issued a report to Education Minister Koichi Hagiuda indicating that the Shiraho-Saonetabaru Cave Ruins, located in Ishigaki City, is to be newly designated as a National...

Cocco explains the reason she continues to sing, talks about the song “2・24” from her new album

Cocco explains the reason she continues to sing, talks about the song “2・24” from her new album

November 8, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

Cocco, who celebrated the 20th anniversary of her debut in 2017, released her 10th studio album, StarShank, in October (3,000 yen before tax, Victor Entertainment).

Released three years after the release of her previous album, Adan Ballet, Cocco once again...

Elementary school pupils plant trees for later use as lumber to rebuild Shuri Castle

Elementary school pupils plant trees for later use as lumber to rebuild Shuri Castle

November 15, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

On November 14 a council for cultivating trees for use in the restoration of wooden buildings starting with Shuri Castle, the Tree-Cultivating Council for Shuri Castle (chaired by Kanko Teruya), tended to yew plum pine and fukugi trees in the national forest...

Okinawan sixth-grader places third in US film festival

Okinawan sixth-grader places third in US film festival

November 15, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

The awards ceremony for Peace in the Streets Global Film Festival 2019 was held on November 6 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, followed by a screening of the winning films.

The film festival is organized by the Peacemaker Corps Association...

Locals complain of tourists trespassing to take Instagram photos on “sacred island” Kudakajima

Locals complain of tourists trespassing to take Instagram photos on “sacred island” Kudakajima

Yo Kakazu

(Nanjo) Kudakajima Island, part of Nanjo City, is known as a sacred place in Okinawa, and roughly 60 thousand people visit there each year.

Many tourists have been trespassing in off-limits sacred spots (utaki) and waters, and islanders who have worked to protect the ancient...

University of Tokyo faculty gathering photographs to create a 3D digital recreation of Shuri Castle to serve as “tourist attraction until the castle is rebuilt”

University of Tokyo faculty gathering photographs to create a 3D digital recreation of Shuri Castle to serve as “tourist attraction until the castle is rebuilt”

November 12, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

Image processing and virtual reality experts are teaming up to form the “OUR Shurijo – Shuri Castle Digital Reconstruction” project, which aims to create a digital reconstruction of the recently burned down Shuri Castle.

The project will collect...

Fujian students perform Chinese fusion eisa on Kokusai Street

Fujian students perform Chinese fusion eisa on Kokusai Street

November 11, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

A student club of the Concord University College Fujian Normal University, the “Sanmo Eisa Club” (eisa is a traditional Okinawan dance) performed at the Mutsumi-bashi intersection on Kokusai Street in Naha City on November 10, in collaboration with various...

A history lesson on the Shuri Castle reconstruction debate—Tokyo, or the prefecture?

A history lesson on the Shuri Castle reconstruction debate—Tokyo, or the prefecture?

November 7, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

Mariko Nakamura

Nov. 7—It’s been one week since Shuri Castle’s seiden, or the main hall, was destroyed in a fire. A full investigation of the prefecture’s management will come, meanwhile, mapping out a path to reviving the castle is proving...

Ryukyu red tile craftsmen appeal to prefectural government to preserve burned red tiles

Ryukyu red tile craftsmen appeal to prefectural government to preserve burned red tiles

November 6, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

On November 5 the Prefectural Ryukyu Red Tile Plaster Craftsmanship Cooperative, which is made up of craftsmen of Okinawan traditional red roof tile, submitted a written appeal to Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki requesting that burned red tiles from Shuri Castle...